England were dumped out of the ICC Champions Trophy after suffering a dramatic eight-run defeat to Afghanistan in what effectively amounted to an eliminator between the sides in Lahore.
Chasing 326 to win, Joe Root struck a superb 120 off 111 balls as, despite wickets tumbling at regular intervals, England flirted on numerous occasions with a victory that would keep their tournament alive.
But Root, cramping up late in the innings, fell in the 46th over, while neither Jamie Overton (32 off 28) nor Jofra Archer (14 off 8) could see the side over the line – no boundary scored in the final 15 deliveries as England were bowled out for 317.
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England were dealt an incredible blow after Azmatullah Omarzai dismissed Joe Root late in the game of their ICC Champions Trophy clash.
Afghanistan are still alive in the tournament, owing a great deal of gratitude to fast bowler Azmatullah Omarzai (5-58) and opener Ibrahim Zadran, who hit a magnificent 177 off 146 balls to set a new Champions Trophy and Afghanistan ODI record.
Ibrahim’s knock rescued his side from 37-3 after a devastating opening burst by Jofra Archer (3-64), with a banged-up England bowling attack, just as in their opening defeat against Australia, struggling to make the most of those early inroads and contain Afghanistan as the innings progressed.
Mark Wood injured his knee and looks set to follow Brydon Carse on an early flight home, while Liam Livingstone also left the field late in the innings but returned to take a couple of wickets and would bat.
England’s clash with Afghanistan had been marked on the calendar for some time, with a potential boycott by Jos Buttler’s side debated in response to Taliban rule in the country, but once it went ahead, the must-win nature of the matchup for both sides only added to the spectacle.
Despite having won the toss, Afghanistan struggled with the bat early on, Archer claiming his 50th ODI wicket when bowling Rahmanullah Gurbaz (6) off an inside edge, before adding Sediqullah Atal (4) and Rahmat Shah (4) in an impressive opening spell.
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Jofra Archer claimed three early wickets against Afghanistan including his 50th ODI wicket.
At the other end, however, Wood (0-50) went down in his fourth over, and though he returned to bowl a further four after leaving the field and receiving some treatment, he looked limited and troubled throughout.
That left an already-stretched bowling attack adding extra workload yet again to the likes of Livingstone (2-28) and Root (0-47), while Overton (1-72) – into the side in place of Carse – proved expensive, as did Archer as the Afghanistan innings progressed.
Ibrahim put on 103 for the fourth wicket with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (40), while Azmatullah (41 off 31) and Mohammad Nabi (40 off 24) came up with vital contributions.
Ibrahim went through to his sixth ODI century in the 37th over of the innings, before carnage ensured, Wood’s next overs costing 18, before 113 were smashed from the final 10 – one Archer over going for 20 and a Root effort for 23 as England began to fall apart in the field.
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A resurgent Afghanistan scored 23 runs off a Joe Root over at the ICC Champions Trophy.
Afghanistan breezed beyond 300, Ibrahim breaking Ben Duckett’s prior Champions Trophy record score of 165 in the process, set against Australia only four days prior, and England – winless in their last five ODIs and with only one victory in eight – suddenly looked right up against it.
Their Champions Trophy hopes looked even more flimsy when quickly reduced to 30-2 within the opening seven overs of their run-chase.
Phil Salt’s stay was again all too brief, clean-bowled for 12 by Azmatullah, while Jamie Smith (9) was too eager to take the aggressive option, perishing to Nabi’s first ball when skewing a thick edge to backward point.
England’s in-form pair of Duckett and Root set about rebuilding the innings but, after benefitting from a huge stroke of luck when dropped on 30 by Hashmatullah – a sitter put down at mid-off – Duckett (38) departed lbw to Rashid Khan (1-66) after a wisely-used DRS review.
The badly out-of-nick Harry Brook (25) struck a few encouraging boundaries before succumbing to an ugly-looking caught-and-bowled dismissal off Nabi (2-57), chipping back the simplest of grabs.
Under-fire skipper Buttler looked to be carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders when scratching his way to 11 off his first 23 deliveries – fortunate to survive a super tight lbw shout against Nabi on ‘umpire’s call’ when on nine – before a first six of the innings appeared to free him up.
Root went serenely through to a run-a-ball fifty at the other end, the pair putting on 83 for the fifth wicket to seemingly have England in the ascendency with 112 needed off the final 14 overs.
Buttler (38) and Livingstone (10) then departed in quick succession in yet another twist, and though Root went through to a magnificent 17th ODI hundred, his wicket – gloving Azmatullah behind – was always likely to prove decisive, and so it proved.
What’s next?
We enter into the final set of group-stage fixtures, starting with the Group A dead rubber between the already-eliminated Pakistan and Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
In Group B, Afghanistan are then back in action in Lahore on Friday, facing Australia, while England round off their tournament against semi-final chasing South Africa in Karachi on Saturday.
India and New Zealand then battle it out for top spot in Group A in Dubai on Sunday – all games live on Sky Sports Cricket from 8.30am, ahead of play starting at 9am UK time.
ICC Champions Trophy 2025 – results and fixtures 🏏
Group A
Group B
Semi-finals
- March 4: Semi-final – A1 v B2 (Dubai)
- March 5: Semi-final 2 – A2 v B1 (Lahore)
Final
- March 9: Final (Lahore or Dubai)
Watch every match from the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, up to and including the final on March 9, live on Sky Sports, or stream with NOW.
